A young man finds himself transformed into a superhero by an alien technology in Director Ángel Manuel Soto’s Blue Beetle.
Based on the DC Comics character, Soto’s film tells the story of Jaime Reyes, whose life is changed when an alien scarab chooses him to be its symbiotic host granting him access to a suit of armor that transforms him into the superhero Blue Beetle.
On August 27, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Soto discussed the making of Blue Beetle during a Q&A moderated by Director Jaume Collet-Serra (Black Adam).
During the conversation, Soto revealed that even though this is a large scale superhero feature, he still thought of it as a "small movie."
"Small in terms of the superficial spectacles, expectations that people have of superhero movies. But we never saw that as a challenge, or a weakness or a threat to our project. We just saw it as an opportunity to go back to the original hero's journey and focus on that emotionality and that more character-driven than spectacle-driven aspect. So, by embracing the heart of the movie, we were able to create something big — that the action sequences feel like they are supporting the dramatic journey of our characters."
Soto’s other directorial credits include the feature films Charm City Kings, The Farm and Frailty. He has been a DGA member since 2018.